Book Title: Crushed Ice
Author: Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Release Date: February 6, 2023
Genre: Contemporary MM Sports Romance
Tropes: Friends to lovers, teammates to lovers, rookie/veteran, age gap, workaholic/slacker
Themes: Coming of age, learning to accept and ask for help, self-acceptance, independence, pressure on professional athletes, injury, romantic comedy
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 99 844 words/ 302 pages
This is a part of the Hockey Ever After series, but all the books in the series can be read as standalones.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Defensemen can score too.
Blurb
When Liam Belanger gets a professional tryout with the Miami Caimans, he’s hoping to land a roster spot that’ll keep him from bussing tables. If he can make the team and score a tryout in bed with Russ Lyons, the veteran defenseman who’s appointed himself Liam’s mentor, that would be the icing on the sweet hockey cake.
Living life by a strict set of rules has worked out well for Russ. He has a great career, great friends, and a great family, even if they do keep setting him up with hometown honey traps. But he can’t stop time, and now, despite all his planning, he’s looking at his last year with the Caimans before the uncertainty of free agency. Maybe that’s why he finds sunny, free-spirited Liam so attractive.
He’s still not going to sleep with his rookie.
Probably.
Liam starts the season in the minors, but it’s not long before he gets a shot at the Big Show. His year is shaping up to be a dream come true—even before Russ picks up on Liam’s passes and proves defensemen can score too.
Russ had played for the Caimans for most of his career, and like any NHL team, the Caimans had a system when it came to road trips.
But the system for a preseason away game was basically chaos, because most of the regular team members wouldn’t travel to many preseason games, which meant the plane was full of AHL and juniors players who didn’t know the system.
Russ usually sat with Jonesy or Mo, but they weren’t coming—they’d get a few extra days to lie around on their couches before the Caimans came back to play their preseason home games.
This meant two things. One, Russ was the de facto captain. Two, he felt like a babysitter. He was ten years older than the majority of the guys on the plane, and the excitement made them loud. For a lot of them, this would be their first time on NHL ice, even if it didn’t count for anything. Some of them would never make the Big Show. Most of them would be waiting a few more years for their shot.
“I swear to God I was never that young,” Baller commented as he dropped into the seat next to Russ. “You don’t mind, do you?”
It wasn’t like Russ had been saving the seat, and sitting next to someone who had some chill would keep him from grinding his teeth during the flight to Philly. “It’s all yours.”
“Thanks.”
“So… ready to earn that letter on the jersey?”
Baller gestured at the chaos around them. “Who else were they going to have help you? One of these infants? They’d wet themselves.”
“Probably true.”
“So who’s your bet for overachiever of the night?”
“Hughes, definitely.” Eighteen, bright-eyed, fiercely determined to prove he was big on the inside, even if he was only five ten in skates.
Baller hummed happily. “Perfect. He’s my liney for the trip. He can do all the hard work.” Then, having lulled Russ into a false sense of security, he continued with, “Speaking of lineys, your rookie is being weird.”
Unfortunately, Russ couldn’t disagree. They’d had a whole weekend off after training camp, then another rest day before regular practices started. The weighing and measuring and fitness testing were done, and now they could buckle down and play. It had taken Russ a minute to put his finger on what was different about Liam, but then he realized Liam had stopped flirting with him.
But he hadn’t stopped batting his eyelashes at the rest of the team. The other day Mo gave him shit for zoning out while they ran shooting drills. Liam shrugged innocently and claimed he was hypnotized by Mo’s stickhandling.
Russ had no right to feel grumpy about it. Liam could flirt with whoever he wanted. Besides, Russ had no more intention of acting on the flirtation than any of the straight guys Liam made silly passes at.
But he still felt like he’d lost something—like an inside joke that didn’t land anymore.
Agreeing with Baller would lead to uncomfortable follow-up questions, so Russ stalled. “Weird how?”
“Weird like ever since the two of you disappeared at Mo’s party, he’s totally stopped inviting you to bend him over the nearest convenient surface.” Baller didn’t blink. Russ knew he had a reputation for being direct, but damn. “Something happen between you and Trouble?”
Russ should’ve known that nickname would catch on. “Nothing happened. Unless you count getting stuck in Mo’s pantry while we were hiding the power cord to his karaoke machine.”
“Oh, so you’re the buzzkills. I was looking forward to showing off.”
“The captain doesn’t share the mic when he’s drinking absinthe,” Russ said dryly. “Sorry.”
“Hmm. Okay, I accept your intervention.” Sadly, this didn’t put him off the subject. “So nothing happened while you were locked in close quarters together? He just magically came out of that situation having decided he could live without your dick in his mouth?”
All the air rushed out of Russ’s lungs. He’d been trying not to think about it, and now he had a vivid mental image and it wasn’t even his fault. “He didn’t know I was gay before. So I told him, and he came to the conclusion on his own that people would think he meant it if he kept it up.”
“Hmm.”
He kept saying that. “What?” Russ snapped, harsher than he meant to.
But Baller had apparently decided to shut up. “Nah, nothing. Don’t worry about it. You know rookies—they’re flighty. Always changing their minds.”
Russ was pretty sure he was being a smartass, but he accepted the peace offering.
Russ generally wrote preseason away games off as scheduled losses—the teams they’d play against would ice more of their regular lineup at home. But the Firebirds’ regular lineup had one of the worst records in the league, so maybe four Caimans and a ragtag group of rookies and minor players could give them a run for their money.
As long as he and Baller could keep the rookies focused, they had a shot.
Team dinner at the hotel skirted disaster. Hughes looked like he might throw up at any moment. Havvy knocked over a water pitcher—not a great sign for a goaltender, who had to be aware of body positioning at all times.
And Trouble kept checking his phone under the table after every bite of steak.
Maybe he could start with figuring out what was going on with Liam now. This quiet brooding didn’t suit him.
Russ nudged Liam’s ankle under the table.
Liam snapped his head up, cheeks flushed.
No point beating around the bush. “What’s going on?”
Liam went redder and set his phone facedown next to his plate. “I’m trying to decide if I should ask if Bernadette wants to come to the game in Houston, since she lives there anyway, but maybe it’s late notice.”
The family issue explained the lack of confidence. It probably wasn’t any easier being the younger sibling of a group of accomplished adults than it was being the semicloseted older brother.
Still, the answer was easy. “Ask her,” Russ said.
Liam looked up. “What if she says no? What if she says yes and I don’t play?”
“What if she says yes and you get to show off for your sister?” Russ tilted his head. “If you get cut that night, you could just hang out with her. Give her the VIP access tour.” It was just a preseason game, but most people would still think that was a big deal.
“You’re right, I know, just….” He shook his head. “I’m bad at talking to my family. That’s pathetic.”
Thanks for reminding me I have the same problem. “Practice,” Russ suggested, though he chafed at his own hypocrisy. “No time like the present. And then get your head in the game, yeah?”
Liam straightened and the pink faded from his face. He gave a cheeky grin. “Yes, sir.” He batted his lashes afterward too.
Russ groaned. “Trouble.” He shook his head. He had a feeling it was a word he’d be repeating.
But he was glad to have the flirtatious Liam back, even if it did make him feel like a dirty old man.
Ashlyn Kane likes to think she can do it all, but her follow-through often proves her undoing. Her house is as full of half-finished projects as her writing folder. With the help of her ADHD meds, she gets by.
An early reader and talker, Ashlyn has always had a flair for language and storytelling. As an eight-year-old, she attended her first writers’ workshop. As a teenager, she won an amateur poetry competition. As an adult, she received a starred review in Publishers Weekly for her novel Fake Dating the Prince. There were quite a few years in the middle there, but who’s counting?
Her hobbies include DIY home decor, container gardening (no pulling weeds), music, and spending time with her enormous chocolate lapdog. She is the fortunate wife of a wonderful man, the daughter of two sets of great parents, and the proud older sister/sister-in-law of the world’s biggest nerds.
Morgan James is a clueless (older) millennial who’s still trying to figure out what they’ll be when they grow up and enjoying the journey to get there. Now, with a couple of degrees, a few stints in Europe, and more than one false start to a career, they eagerly wait to see what’s next. James started writing fiction before they could spell and wrote their first (unpublished) novel in middle school. They haven’t stopped writing since. Geek, artist, archer, and fanatic, Morgan tends to pass their free hours with in imaginary worlds and people on pages and screens—it’s an addiction. As is their love of coffee and tea. They live in Canada with their massive collection of unread books, where they are the personal servant of too many four-legged creatures.
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